Ambition admirable, but film falls short

October 26, 2006|KAREN RIVERS Tribune Staff Writer

"And so will I go in unto the king, which is not according to the law: and if I perish, I perish." (Book of Esther 4:16). Those are the resolute words of the orphan Hadassah, a heroic figure better known as Esther, a woman the Bible credits with saving the Jews of the Persian Empire some 2,500 years ago. This month, her story came to the big screen in the grand-looking film "One Night With the King." It's a film with admirable ambition, a film that has its moments, a film that is generally enjoyable. It's good to see it hitting the theaters instead of heading straight to video, as religious films often do. In the end, however, it's a film that falls short of being particularly moving -- an especially unfortunate result considering the power of its source material. The biblical story of Esther is essentially as follows: When King Xeres' wife falls out of his favor, he must choose a new queen. Although many beautiful women are brought before him, it is Esther he chooses. Esther (Tiffany Dupont) is an orphan, raised by her relative Mordecai (John Rhys-Davies), who asks her to conceal her Jewish heritage (and change her name from the Jewish-sounding Hadassah) when she is taken to the palace. She abides by his wish, but then, the king's nobleman Haman (James Callis) sets out to kill all the Jews in the empire. If Esther confronts the King (Luke Goss) and begs him to stop this holocaust, she will likely be killed. Anyone who approaches the King without permission does so at the risk of death. This, however, does not stop Esther. She throws herself before him to save her people. The King is swayed. The Jews are granted the right to defend themselves. Brought to life on the big screen, Esther's story certainly looks lovely. It was shot on location in India, and the visuals are stunning. The film also boasts a number of impressive actors on its roster. With Omar Sharif in a supporting role as Prince Memucan and Peter O'Toole in a brief appearance as the Prophet Samuel, it's a "Lawrence of Arabia" reunion of sorts. There is little hope for this film to recover, however, from a weak script with sometimes cringe-inducing dialogue. It opens with the clunky line "From whence comes the purpose of a person's life?" From there, it never manages to settle on a tone, with awkward inversions of word order coming and going throughout the uneven script. Despite it all, "One Night With the King" is not such a bad choice for family film- going. It seems destined, however, to spend much of its post- theater life in Sunday school classes. But is that who this film was made for? The story of Esther is an Old Testament story, the origin for the Jewish holiday of Purim. This film was produced by evangelicals and comes at a time when, increasingly, evangelicals are reaching out to the Jewish community. "One Night With the King," however, doesn't seem to be aimed at any specific religious group. The film -- which bears the tag line "Feel the Touch of Destiny" -- seems to have a broad audience in mind. In fact, the producers launched "The Hadassah Project" as a program that "(encourages) churches, pastors and lay leaders to reach out to orphanages and foster care facilities and to sponsor taking disadvantaged young people to see the film and give them a sense of hope they may have never experienced." At heart, "One Night With the King" is a film about hope. More specifically, it's a film about a humble figure becoming a heroine against the odds. And despite the style that echoes biblical epics of decades ago, and cameos by great actors of generations past, it seems to have been made with young women in mind. Unfortunately, the filmmakers could have provided young women with a far more convincing picture of Esther. The Esther of this film, with all her one-dimensional spunk, seems like the kind of heroine we'd see in a Disney film. The King listens to her reading from a scroll, and their romance takes off. The movie's climax hinges on a secret that's hidden in Esther's special necklace. The film feels, at times, more fairy tale than biblical. The movie poster for "One Night With the King" shows Esther pushing open the heavy ornate doors to approach the king, her shoulders heavy with the weight of the task. That struggle, however, never seems to be the film's focus. "One Night With the King" paints a picture of a handsome King and a beautiful orphan falling for each other, and this seems to distract from the power of a different story -- the story of how Esther suffered; the story of how Esther sacrificed; the story of how Esther took on her destiny, not as a queen, but as a savior. Staff writer Karen Rivers: krivers@sbtinfo.com (574) 235-6442